Feature: Maze 28 shares 10 tracks which inspired his journey into electronic music

Hailing from Albania, Mario Zefi aka Maze 28 has emerged as one of his country's most hotly tipped progressive house artists. In just three short years the Durres resident has earned support from genre tastemakers Hernan Cattaneo and Nick Warren, while his melodic creations have found a home on Clubsonica, iNU, Juicebox Music, RKP and Mango Alley, the latter of which operates as his primary home. Now, following a remix of Breeder's progressive classic 'Tyrantanic', a project which he worked on with Argentina's Ricky Ryan aka Freedo Mosho, Maze 28 returns to Mango Alley with one of this biggest singles to date 'Aer8', alongside remixes from Juan Pablo Torrez, Michael A and Alan Cerra.

To celebrate the release of 'Aer8', Maze 28 has curated a collection of ten tracks that have fueled his passion for electronic music in his formative years.

Boris Brejcha - I take it Smart

I am starting this chart list with the track that got me in the path of becoming MAZE 28. I discovered this track in 2019 when I was doing a school assignment in an internet café. It was his Tomorrowland 2018 set where I found this track, from that track I started digging more music & got to understand the difference between Commercial Eletronic music & Underground Electronic music. After this discovery in 2019, in 2020 I started releasing music as MAZE 28.

Todd Terje – Inspector Norse

Was doing some music digging on youtube one night years ago, and somehow I ended up on a track of a genre I was not much familiar with. And that track is Inspector Norse. This track is so simple yet it really got my attention for the special sounds it has. That melody really hooked me and everytime I hear it always touches my soul like it’s the first time. So nostalgic…

Chicane & Moya Brennan - Saltwater

This track left a mark on me, the reason being the way the elements it has work with each other. The cherry on top for sure is for sure the amazing vocal of Moya Brennan that gives this track that magical feeling, which never fails to amaze me.

Satoshi Tomiie Feat. Kelli Ali - Love In Traffic (Satoshi Tomiie Dark-Path)

Anyone who knows me personally, knows that I am a big lover of the oldschool progressive house, and one of the highlights for me is this amazing track of Satoshi Tomiie. Some of my productions have a bit of influence from this track since they have this dark & energetic vibe sometimes just like LOVE IN TRAFFIC. In Satoshi’s track, when that melody gets introduced till its peak, it hooks me and makes me replay that again and again…

Schiller & Heppner – I Feel You

I really feel connected to the lyrics this track has, which are performed by Heppner with his magical voice. It really carried this track full of deep pads and nostalgic synths. I do remember the first time I heard it and I still cherish this track for its unique nature, which is hardly found in the productions made nowdays.

Stan Kolev – Higher Collective

Stan Kolev, my all time favourite artist. His music was the most influential one to me, and still is to this day. I picked HIGHER COLLECTIVE for this chart, but to be honest it was very hard decision, because there are many tracks of Stan that I love and influence me a lot. For me he is the best Progressive House producer this world has, with a wide catalogue of unique , energetic , ethnic Progressive House I will always listen and get inspired from.

Pedro Aguiar – Ego Trippin (Guy J Remix)

Dark progressive house, I always find myself in this type of music, and Guy J’s remix for Ego Trippin is an another example of it. I get influenced a lot by this track, its dark ambiences, punchy drums and deep vocals really get me hooked :P

ARTBAT – Aquarius

Before entering the amazing world of progressive house properly, my fav track at the time was this track by ARTBAT. My productions at the time were melodic techno so I had this track as my main reference in every track I made. I always wanted to achieve melodic techno tracks that had a groovy main bassline, simple drums and a small arp / melody to carry the track just like AQUARIUS.

Lemon8 – Lose Control

Lemon8 is my favourite artist of oldschool progressive house. Sadly I have to pick only one track of his :P and my pick is LOSE CONTROL. Simple, driving, and a catchy melody afterwards, do I want more?

Astrix - Sahara

I am closing this chart with a very special psytrance track. I am a big fan of psy, and my top pic is always SAHARA by ASTRIX. This track feels so alive to me, like its telling a whole story from the beginning till the end. A real example of a track that evolves.

'Aer8' is available now via Mango Alley: https://tinyurl.com/ysr2b29u